1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates a caller information display system and recording medium in a communication system that allows voice and data communication to be done simultaneously between multiple communication terminals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The popularization of the Internet and intranets in recent years has brought with it a growing desire to unify voice information with IP (Internet protocol) information and carry on voice communication (telephone calls) via IP networks. The appearance of VoIP (Voice over IP) technology in response to this need has made it possible to conduct telephone calls via a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet using personal computers (PCs) as terminals. VoIP technology converts voice information into IP packets and makes it possible to conduct a telephone conversation over an IP network; IP address information can be obtained from the telephone number or other identifying information of the other party to the communication from a server known as a gatekeeper, and after going through a communication setup procedure with the other terminal, voice data can be transmitted and received directly by the other terminal, and one can conduct voice communication.
Because the voice information is converted into IP packets by VoIP technology, the conversation does not monopolize the communication circuit at all times, and as long as communication circuit bands are empty even during one voice communication, other calls can be received or made. For example, the communication speed when one carries out WWW access or other IP packet communication using a telephone circuit depends on the communication speed of the modem one uses. At present, one can communicate at a speed of up to 56 kbps per telephone circuit. In contrast to this, the band used in one VoIP call can be kept to about 10-20 kbps, thus allowing 2-4 calls to be made per telephone line. And there is a greater need than ever, when a telephone call comes in, to identify the other caller by having the telephone number or the caller""s name and other caller information displayed on the receiving terminal before one responds to the incoming call, and various methods have been proposed.
FIG. 32 shows the composition of the previously known example 1, and FIG. 33 shows the composition of the previously known example 2.
FIG. 32 shows an example of a previous system in which a database that collects and stores images or other such information on callers is provided, and displaying is done on a computer associated with each telephone set; this is disclosed, for example, in unexamined patent application H11-88496 [1999]. In FIG. 32, 80 is a subscriber line exchange, 81 is a caller number receiver, 82 is a caller information storage database provided for collecting and managing with respect to many telephone sets, 83 are telephone sets provided in large numbers, and 84 are PCs (personal computers) provided in correspondence with the telephone sets 83. In this example 1, when a call comes to a telephone set 83 of subscriber line exchange 80, and when the telephone number of the sending subscriber that is sent to subscriber line exchange 80 when the call arrives is received by caller number receiver 81, the number is displayed on the display unit (not shown in the figure) and is sent to caller information storage database 82. At the caller information storage database 82, the data lookup unit searches the database using the sending subscriber""s telephone number and transfers the looked-up data (an image or data concerning the sending subscriber) through the communication control unit to PC 84, which corresponds to telephone set 83 where the incoming call occurred, and displays it on the display unit of PC 84. Caller information storage database 82, by specifying the name of the other party even if a call originates from one telephone set 83, can be used, even if dialing is automated, by looking up the corresponding telephone number. At this time, the various information concerning the looked-up other party (including image data) can be displayed on the display unit of PC 84, which corresponds to the telephone set 83 where the call originated.
FIG. 33 shows another previous system in which a database for caller information is built into a communication terminal that has telephone functions; this is described in, for example, unexamined patent application H6-121302 [1994]. In the diagram, 85 is a communication network having telephone exchange functions, 86 is a communication terminal having telephone functions, and 87 is a handset including a transmitter and receiver. Provided inside communication terminal 86 are a communication control unit 860, a call circuit unit 861, a caller number lookup unit 862, a caller information database 863, a display unit 864 for displaying caller information, and an input unit 865 for storing caller information.
In the case of the previous example 2 of the communication system as well, when a call comes in to communication terminal 86, the caller information database 863 is searched using the caller number that is included in the incoming call information, previously stored information including an image of the caller is displayed on display unit 864, and knowledge concerning the caller is provided before one responds. Also, by the composition of the previous communication system shown in FIG. 33, when a call is made from the communication terminal 86, a still image previously stored in caller information database 863 or a moving picture of the caller can be transmitted to the call recipient in real time by using a camera as input unit 865.
Also, VoIP (Voice over IP) technology has appeared, in which voice information such as the above is telephoned by a LAN (local area network), intranet, Internet, etc. with a personal computer (PC) as the terminal, making it possible to convert voice information into IP (the IP of TCP/IP: Internet protocol) packets and make a call over an IP network.
Specifications covering IP telephony by VoIP have been put forth by ITU-T (International Telecommunications Union, electrical communication standardization division) as H.323 (standards for audio and video communication on non-guarantee networks). These standard specifications cover encoding technology for converting analog audio to digital, packetization technology for putting encoded audio data into IP packets, and xe2x80x9ccall setup processingxe2x80x9d technology for checking the other party""s telephone number sent by a telephone set and determining the optimum route. In call setup processing, it is possible to obtain IP address information from the telephone number and other identifying information of the other party to the communication, go through a communication setup procedure with the other terminal, then transmit and receive voice data with the directly connected other terminal and carry on voice communication. The ITU-T has also recommended H.245 (control message protocol standards) and H.450 (standards for added services such as hold and transfer).
Problems which are Solved by the Present Invention
There are cases in which, although it is possible to convey caller information to the call recipient, one would want to have information about the caller without considering conveying information about the call recipient to the caller, for example if a call arrives at another call recipient by transfer or other means at the call recipient, but effecting this is difficult with the previous technology.
And if the caller information is to be updated, with the technology of the above-described previous example 2 the caller information is in each terminal, and each terminal operator must update the information, which has been quite troublesome. If one neglects to do the updating, the latest information is not displayed, so one is required to do updating work frequently.
Moreover, with the technology of the above-described previous example 1, because the database is centrally managed with respect to multiple terminals, when a call arrives, after the caller number is received by the exchange, the database is searched, after the information is found it is transferred to the terminal that receives the call, and the information is displayed on the terminal; the problem has been that it takes time from when a call comes in until the information is displayed.
With previous telephone technology, because one is unable, when making a telephone call, to convey to the other party any indication to answer immediately because it is an urgent matter, there has been a desire to convey to the call recipient a per-call message for the urgency, etc. of the telephone call. If the call recipient is busy when a telephone call arrives and cannot answer the telephone, there has been a need to respond to the telephone call in order to convey to the caller that, for example, one will call back later, and because one""s work gets interrupted, there has been a desire to transmit a message to the caller by a simple operation after confirming the identity of the caller when a call comes in.
If one wants to share caller information among many people because it is used in an application such as a common telephone directory, there has been the problem that registering and updating caller information entails a great deal of work. The service of responding to a call that comes in during the midst of a telephone conversation is offered as a call interrupt service of the public telephone network or as a PBX function, but it has been impossible to display caller information and verify the other party when a telephone call arrives in the midst of an ongoing telephone conversation, nor has it been possible to decide whether to switch over the call depending on who the other party is.
It is an object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, make it easy to register and update caller information, make it possible to simultaneously display caller and call recipient information, shorten the time from the operation of making a call until the information is displayed, allow a message concerning the telephone call to be conveyed from the caller, transmit a message from the call recipient to the caller when a call comes in, automatically register in a common database the latest information that is received, and provide a caller information display device that can reduce the trouble of updating the common database information, as well as to provide a call initiator information display device that displays caller information even in the midst of a telephone conversation and allows one to switch the call as necessary. It is another object of the present invention to provide a caller information display system and recording medium that realize the aforesaid functions.
The present invention makes it possible to pass information and display it on terminals by using VoIP technology for simultaneously transmitting voice/data to the same other party, holding/managing terminal operator information within the sending/receiving terminal, and transmitting/exchanging caller information held in each in a call setup procedure when a telephone conversation begins.